Plastic recycling with a protein anchor

Feb 20, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Polystyrene is a widespread plastic that is essentially not recyclable when mixed with other materials and is not biodegradable. In the journal Angewandte Chemie ("Engineered Anchor Peptide LCI with a Cobalt Cofactor Enhances Oxidation Efficiency of Polystyrene Microparticles"), a German research team has introduced a...

Cybersecurity for satellites is a growing challenge, as threats to space-based infrastructure grow

Feb 20, 2024 (Nanowerk News) In today’s interconnected world, space technology forms the backbone of our global communication, navigation and security systems. Satellites orbiting Earth are pivotal for everything from GPS navigation to international banking transactions, making them indispensable assets in our daily lives and in global infrastructure. However, as...

It’s the spin that makes the difference

Feb 20, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Biomolecules such as amino acids and sugars occur in two mirror-image forms – in all living organisms, however, only one is ever found. Why this is the case is still unclear. Researchers at Empa and Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany have now found evidence that the...

Unveiling lead-free antimony-based perovskite solar modules

Feb 20, 2024 (Nanowerk Spotlight) Solar energy holds enormous untapped potential as a clean, renewable power source. But as silicon panels approach their practical efficiency limits, scientists have turned to revolutionary lead-halide perovskites as a way forward. Since their emergence roughly a decade ago, lead-halide perovskite solar cells have rapidly...

Chameleons inspire new multicolor 3D-printing technology

Feb 20, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Inspired by the color-changing ability of chameleons, researchers developed a sustainable technique to 3D-print multiple, dynamic colors from a single ink. “By designing new chemistries and printing processes, we can modulate structural color on the fly to produce color gradients not possible before,” said Ying...